Andy Stern (far right) with President Obama

Andy Stern, the recently retired “charismatic and revolutionary leader” of the Service Employees International Union who seemed to be headed for a position in the Obama administration, is being investigated by the FBI and the Department of Labor over a lucrative book deal, according to two “union officials” quoted anonymously in numerous news reports, including this one by Susan Todd in the Newark Star Ledger.

Strangely, none of the reports state what, exactly, is so improper about the book deal. Stern is, after all, one of the country’s most important union leaders in many a year. As Todd herself notes, he was such a champion for the bedraggled service community — an extremely poor community that included many immigrants laborers — that “Under his 14-year presidency, the 2.2-million member SEIU became the fastest-growing labor union in the country.” Growth was particularly explosive after Stern led the SEIU out of AFL-CIO membership — a controversial move that, to this publisher at least, increased his press coverage and makes his $175,000 advance from Simon & Schuster look, well, small, at least in an age where the likes of Sarah Palin and Karl Rove are being given millions.

All of which makes the book deal seem on the up and up, and the only other charge against Stern — that he hired someone who didn’t seem to do any work — seem all the more questionable. Plus, Stern’s book deal — for a book that had the smart title of A Country That Works — was published in 2006 … nearly five years ago.

So what’s going on?

The answer, unlike the accusations in Todd’s report placed in the first sentence and granted anonymity, may lie buried deep in the article, where another “union official” was willing to go on the record: the SEIU’s Michelle Ringuette says someone is trying to “smear” Stern and the SEIU.

Why? More reading between the lines to find the missing reporting is necessary there too, but Adrienne Eaton, a labor studies professor at the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University (and the one who calls Stern “charismatic and revolutionary”) notes that some within the AFL-CIO are angry at Stern for removing the SEIU from its membership. And Todd reports the move “was seen by many as weakening the labor movement,” which is an exaggeration of the more precise — and obvious — fact that it weakened the AFL-CIO.

Meanwhile, the FBI and Labor Department aren’t allowed to comment on such things, and Stern himself says “I have absolutely no reason to believe, and not the slightest indication, that I am being investigated by federal authorities.”

Hmm. Let’s review: A “revolutionary” union leader who angered one of the country’s biggest unions is claimed by two anonymous “union sources” to be under investigation for a book deal that seems pretty clearly on the up and up just when the president everyone thinks wants to hire him has some staffing departures coming up and —

D’oh!